When this column comes out we’ll be two weeks away from Thanksgiving. A holiday with both light and shadow in the United States, given our history – a past that is what it is. We can, however, as enlightened beings, make better of our present and thus our recent past as we go forward. Whether overcoming...

“In the beginning there was nothing. God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.” - Ellen DeGeneres
“An age is called ‘dark’ not because the light fails to shine but because people refuse to see it.” - James...

In honor of Alcohol Awareness week and inspired by the Vermont Conference on Addictive Disorders that I recently attended, I thought I’d take a closer look at Alcohol Issues, particularly for those typical of College and High School Students who are under 25 and for those who drink heavily, when they...

Special mention of the article at the top of page 12, about a JSC student fighting leukemia. The student’s name is Scott Prescott. His family has created a fundraising page at gofundme.com. It’d be wonderful if you’d donate whatever you can, 25 cents, $1, $10. Anything helps.
Here in the northeast,...

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually heard a character on TV or in a movie refer to themselves as bisexual.
A huge stigma in the media exists when it comes to using that word -- probably because bisexual people are still seen as being “greedy” or unable to make...

Recycling is easy enough to do when it comes to aluminum cans, plastic bottles or yesterday's newspaper, but how can you properly dispose of hazardous waste?
That's where the Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District or the LRSWMD comes in. For the past several years the LRSWMD runs collection...

Procrastination is one of the most stressful maladaptive strategies in life. Yes, we need to stay on top of our readings and assignments, work, friends, families, laundry and lives, but sometimes it all just can’t get done. If we “all or nothing” ourselves into dysfunction, we procrastinate on...

The following is an excerpt.
The scientific community is clear: Global warming is real and it is caused by human activity. In terms of droughts, heat waves, floods, forest fires, disease, rising sea levels and extreme weather disturbances, global warming is already causing devastating problems. The simp...

These first few weeks on campus are sure to be interesting times. They might be the best ever or just OK or no big deal and for others it may be feeling unsettling, daunting or like a huge adjustment to have to deal with. All of which is normal. So we wanted to share some ideas and resources about making...

I fell into love with a man a few nights ago and got a chocolate bar out of it –53% cocoa with pistachios and hot peppers, wrapped with a picture of Grace Potter. While I am neither a fan of chocolate nor the singer, the bar, more than half eaten, lays on the front passenger seat in my car as though...

This is the end.
End of the semester. The psychotically erratic weather helped masked its end, but it’s over.
End of my tenure as Basement Medicine editor. Thanks for reading.
End of the college swimming pool.
End of workable budgets.
End of faculty and staff.
BM rep...

Depending on when you read this, the Board of Trustees will vote or voted on a tuition increase for the Vermont State Colleges on Feb. 20. A trustees’ committee recommended that tuition stay the same on Feb. 13 in Montpelier. They voted the entire student body of the Vermont State Colleges into a hunger...

What a surprise that the Bible was correct in its fingering Y2K as the End. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have indeed been riding, although not as much as they once did, since they’re in their seventies, and I think it’s harsh to consider Fred Koch as destructive as his brothers.
Judgment...

Editor’s note: The following commentary was originally published in Vt. Digger on Jan. 21. It’s been reprinted here due to its relevance, despite the protests of its author, stemming from his active involvement with Basement Medicine. Relevance is relevance.
Gov. Shumlin’s latest budget is by ma...

We’ve all heard the old adage ‘you are what you eat’, but have you ever stopped to think exactly how true that is?
Put simply, healthy eating is the key to wellbeing. We all have up to 100 trillion cells in our bodies, each one demanding a constant supply of daily nutrients in order to function...

I just read a scary thing. At this rate, the number of Americans out of work will surpass the number of employed Americans in four years. Four years. Our labor-force participation rate is 62.8 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the lowest it’s been since 19...

Most of you probably already know that some stress is good. We need to activate some alertness and vigilance to function at our best. Stress activates the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). What we want is a nice fluctuation between sympathetic and par...

Constructive Living Quotes:
You don't need to fight your fears or discover hidden ones.
Fear of flying is no reason to avoid air travel.
For all your dreams you are what you do.
Feelings fade over time unless re-stimulated by complaining or other circumstances.
You can't build a life on ...

I’ve heard a lot about how the government shutdown could have been avoided if Republicans just accepted that Obamacare’s here, it’s too late, and I’ve heard the Republicans say that if the Democrats hadn’t approved Obamacare, Satan’s doorway into the United States, this wouldn’t have been...

First I’d like to say you’re a beautiful audience, you three who read my editorials. This may be my last. I’m afraid I’ll be assassinated over my obnoxiously and gracelessly satiric VSO critique, which, I hope is clear, is more of a critique of classical music than of the VSO. If I see a well-...

In Vermont, we are so lucky to have extremely vibrant seasons. Fall turns out to be one of my favorites. I love all the beautiful harvest colors and the specific fragrant smells that it brings. Fall, of course, is really like an appetizer to the longer main course of the Vermont winter, which typica...

The legendary pool shark Don Eaton pointed out to me that the Associated Press has been running stories regarding a potential U.S. military strike on Syria with headlines like "U.S. Faces Opposition in Congress on Syria Strike." Such a headline sets off my bullshit detector--and I bet, when you look at it, ...

These first few weeks on campus are sure to be interesting times. They might be the best ever or just OK or no big deal. Other weeks maybe unsettling, daunting or just feel like a big adjustment to deal with. All of which is normal. So we wanted to share some ideas and resources about making the best of thi...

A quick note on the passing of Karleigh Baumann.
I wasn’t close with Karleigh. She was a friend of my friends. She was around, I was around. We drank and laughed in the same company. She was quiet and polite, but she had a pulsing personality. I saw her take crap from people with grace and poise,...

The Texas Information Literacy Tutorial, or TILT, is a general education requirement at Johnson State College that happens to be the absolute last thing on the average student’s mind.
“It’s on my list of things to figure out what it is and take,” says Childhood Education major Galloway Morris.
He...

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at the government’s expense.
Boston...

April has the highest suicide rate
Of any month in this state.
It’s hard to imagine anything being great
After six months bleak as slate.
Then there were the bombs in Boston
Which were so awful I won’t make it rhyme.
But the temperature, a.k.a. the eternal freeze
Has climbed outta the...

Your mobile phone is ringing, you have a paper due and a test to study for, you feel deprived of sleep, your neck and back are aching from long hours spent in classes and studying, you have the "sniffles" and a nagging cough and you have to work your weekend shift in order to pay your bills. Sound all...

It’s not just men that get the message that it is weak to cry. Plenty of women are stoics as well. There are plenty of situations when we’d really rather not burst into tears. It seems out of control – and it may be. The self-talk I hear frequently about one’s crying is that you feel: "you’re ...

, too late.
There’s a theory that no one reads these editorials. (It’s mine.) Maybe it’s because many of them are haphazard word floods undammed by deadline. Too little, too late.T
Maybe no one cares. Note that I’m not clutching my tear-soaked hanky as I write this. Just wondering.
Well, if my surreal ...